MAKATI CITY, June 9 – The Department of Trade and Industry’s Consumer Protection Group (DTI-CPG) specifies that there are existing Philippine National Standards (PNS) and Implementing Guidelines as well as DTI Administrative Orders (DAOs) governing the issuance of the Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) certificate for steel bars that are under the mandatory Product Certification Scheme.
The DTI-CPG’s Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS), when processing an ICC application, is guided by the provisions of the Republic Act No. 4109 or the Standards Law, the Department Administrative Order (DAO) 05: 2008 (The New Rules and Regulations concerning the Issuance of the Import Commodity Clearance under the Product Certification Mark Scheme of the Bureau of Product Standards), the DAO 15-01:2016 (Measures to Facilitate the Issuance of the Import Commodity Clearance), and, the relevant Philippine National Standards (PNS) and their Implementing Guidelines. The DTI-BPS implements the certification scheme in the National Capital Region (NCR).
On the other hand, based on DAO 05, the DTI Regional and Provincial Offices implement the said scheme in their respective areas. Under the DTI-BPS Product Certification Scheme, an importer of a product included its list of products for mandatory certification, shall acquire an ICC certificate prior to distribution and sale to the market to demonstrate conformance to the requirements of an applicable PNS. The DTI-BPS and the DTI Regional and Provincial Offices subject import shipments to sampling and testing procedures and evaluation.
The DAO 05:2008 specifies that importers have four (4) options for their applications to be processed, which include: (1) an application without a Product Test Report but with a Quality Management System (QMS) based on the ISO 9001; (2) an application with a Product Test Report and with a QMS; (3) an application without a Product Test Report and without a QMS; and, (4) an application with the Philippine Standard (PS) license from a foreign supplier. For steel bars, the DTI-BPS requires an importer to submit its unique logo/s for approval prior to its ICC application. The importer shall emboss the approved logo on its bars during production.
With the approved logo, the importer then applies for the ICC certificate. The DTI-BPS or DTI-RO/PO evaluates the application and issues the appropriate certificate for the shipment. The DTI-BPS or Inspection Body or DTI-RO/PO conducts the inspection and sampling activities for the shipment in the importer’s warehouse and marks the samples for testing. 2 For steel bars, the implementing guidelines of PNS 49:2002 require two (2) sets of samples, with each set consisting of three (3) pieces of one-meter per grade of steel bars. The importer sends the first set of samples for testing to an accredited laboratory. The other set, which was marked as samples for testing by the DTI-BPS or Inspection Body or DTI-RO/PO, shall serve as reference samples for a retest, when necessary.
The accredited laboratory performs the tests based on PNS 49:2002 – Steelbars for concrete reinforcement – Specification and PNS 211:2002 – Rerolled steel bars for concrete reinforcement – Specification. The accredited laboratory submits the test results to DTI-BPS for evaluation. If the steel bar passes the evaluation, the DTI-BPS or the DTI-RO/PO issues the ICC certificate to the importer. Under its list of Philippine National Standards (PNS) for mandatory certification, the DTI-BPS receives applications for the ICC certificate on products in varied shipment volumes. Based on the DTI-BPS records, the products that usually have large volumes of shipments are home appliances and construction materials.
DTI-Consumer Protection Group (CPG) Undersecretary Atty. Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba asserts, “The DTI-BPS conforms to its set certification procedures in granting the ICC certificates to all applicants whether their shipments are small or large in volume. Further, everything is documented accordingly”. “
The DTI-BPS maintains its impartiality in issuing licenses and certificates by aligning its Product Certification Scheme to the requirements of conformity assessment according to the International Organization for Standardization/ International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/ IEC) 17065”, Undersecretary Dimagiba adds. For more information on the ICC Certification Scheme, call DTI-BPS at 751.4624 or visit www.bps.dti.gov.ph. (DTI)